Good afternoon people! It's been another good week out here in the
mission, especially teaching wise so buckle up!
So last Monday the zone leaders wanted to play basketball and I was
way excited because I haven't played any thing close to a sport since
the MTC! Well our zone leaders aren't very good and neither are me or
elder Johnson, so it was sort of a shooting mess, but there was
occasions where I was playing alright so it was pretty fun! Afterwards
we did our laundry and emailed at Bro Massimini's which was super
rough because I'm 90% sure our emails aren't working right because I
didn't hear from my mom all day and I got all my families emails on
Tuesday, and even my trainers email on Tuesday, so something was
definitely up, so I apologize if I didn't reply because I probably
didn't get your email! It was okay though because we went to guitar
center and wow that place is beautiful!!! Elder Johnson bought a
harmonica so we are starting a harmonica band with our district!
Anyways that night we had a lesson with Emin on commandments such as
the word of wisdom and fasting and he ended up asking us questions
about why Valentine's Day is a holiday and telling us about the magic
salt that melts snow. I love teaching kids!
Tuesday morning Elder Johnson got really bad headaches again and our
lessons cancelled so I let him take it easy. A lesson I've learned is
that you can either have a positive attitude about something or just
be a negative nancy. I could have been really bored and mad and
annoyed him to go out, but I know that's not the right thing to do. I
got to relax for a moment, watch some Mormon messages and eventually
he felt good enough to go out! I know what it's like to be sick on the
mission anyways. To have your companion bug you and keep asking if
your feeling better to go out made me really irritated and whatnot.
Anyways it was just a small experience I had! We went out and visited
this guy named Orin, who lives right in the ghetto of Bristol! His mom
recently passed away and she was a member. This guy loves the members
and what not and he's really nice, so I think there's potential! We
are going to do service for him this week and I know service is one of
the best ways to soften someone's heart! We also got to visit Bro
Benkert, I don't know if I've mentioned him so I'll tell a little bit
about him. He's in his late 60's but he's in awesome shape, he told us
he benches 180 haha so he was in some sort of car accident years ago
that wiped part of his memory and he forgot he was a member so he's
had to regain his testimony! He's one of the smartest guys ever too!
He's a famous painter and his paintings are amazing. The only thing is
he has health problems right now that limit how far he can leave his
house so he's not able to attend church:/ anyways he got talking with
his neighbor and let her borrow his Book of Mormon for a few hours!
What a good guy!
Wednesday was a complete blur for some reason, but we had a nice visit
with Bill, a former investigator says he eventually wants to start
coming back to church with us! That night we got to teach Geraldo the
word of wisdom and he already wants to quit smoking, he's cut down a
bunch anyways! He also said coffee isn't too big of a deal. It went
way better than I expected it was awesome! It's amazing what the
spirit can do! Geraldo is the best!!
Thursday we had a good ole district meeting and then stopped by Bro
Benkert to give him a Book of Mormon for his friend! We were going to
see our friend Bruce that lives in our apartment complex. Bruce is an
old hippie, he's awesome! Well he told us that he wants to get out of
this place. The whole "housing" thing isn't for him. We asked where he
would go and he said probably live in his car or a tent, because he
needs more money in his pocket... Alright Bruce? So we may have a
investigator move into a tent hahaha. We taught Maurice about prophets
and he has a few people in mind he wants to bring to lessons so we are
stoked about that! We shared "Dare to stand alone" with Sister
Benfield and I think it was quite good for her because she said she
had a rough week. That night our ward did Sheparding night, where some
leaders in the ward get together to go out and visit people that need
a visit in the ward. We went out with Bro Hart, which didn't yield
success, but he told us these funny stories about this 30 year feud
he's had with his neighbor!
Friday we did our weekly planning and had a lesson with Nyema. We
extended he invitation to be baptized and he pretty much said no, but
we don't know why because he's Liberian and it's hard to understand
him and he didn't give us a straight answer. He knows the Book of
Mormon is true though! We visited with the Macdonald's and her friend
from Florida, Miguel is visiting, who isn't a member but is currently
going to an LDS church in Florida!! We taught them the gospel of Jesus
Christ and it went really well! Jude and Gavin listened the entire
time! That night we visited with Christine and her kids and before we
left she gave us a box full of 50 bags of Doritos!!!
Saturday morning we went with Bro Massimini to volunteer at a Polar
Plunge! "Freezin for a Reason". We helped people with registration and
what not. It was a fundraiser for Special Olympics and they raised a
whole bunch of money and there was some crazy people and funny
costumes and the Neshaminy river was 32 degrees! Glad we couldn't
plunge haha! We went to Golden Corral after and I was reminded that
Golden Corral isn't very good. After some finding we went to this
couple who Sis Dyott met, Fred and Diana. Their son is a member and
they have met with missionaries before I guess. Well their house just
had a thick screen of cig smoke and it looked like it was straight off
of hoarders. Diana told us their entire life story and I think Fred is
looney. She said he broke the toilet upstairs because his likes to
watch things spin in a circle and he was putting cat food down the
toilet????? Anyways we offered help if they need help cleaning up and
whatnot! It was an odd visit and we left smelling like we smoked a
pack:(
Sunday was great! We have stake conference next week so we had fast
Sunday this week. All four missionaries got up and bore their
testimonies along with many members of the ward. It was awesome! Our
3rd hour was on the sacredness of the chapel. It made me think, do I
really value it as a sacred place, or just a room? We discussed ways
on how we can keep it more sacred and how that can help us make our
sabbath more holy. I definitely want to try to remember that the
chapel is a special place, one where we should always be able to feel
the spirit. After church we went to give the Nickel family a blessing.
They were all really sick, it's great to have so many opportunities to
use the priesthood on a mission! We had dinner with the Chatfield's
and Book of Mormon study to end the night. Ether is such an
interesting book!
It's been a fun week here, and it should be another fun one this week.
I think the worst thing that happened all week was I ripped one of my
slacks, so I've had the sponge bob song about him ripping his pants
all week hahaha I apologize if my email doesn't work again today and I
don't reply. Not too sure what we are doing today but we will make it
the best! I miss you all a lot so have a great week for me!!
1) this ambulance wasn't too prepared...
2) a polar bear!!
3) some members who did the plunge!
4) crazy people plunging!
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